| WORK IN JAPAN Jack of all
Trades
And master of none? Not
if you talk to Masaki Kato, president of Jack of all Trades, an international fashion
trading company recently featured on CNN's Business Unusual. Young, bilingual,
outgoing and sharper than Blahnik heel, Masaki is known (on a first name basis) in fashion
circles around the world for his acumen in choosing brands to market in Japan. Kit Pancoast Nagamura met this engaging entrepreneur at
one of his biannual, not-to-be-missed sales (call Jack of all Trades to get on the mailing
list), and spoke to him about where his company is going and what kind of employees he'd
like to take with him.
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| Masaki Kato, Jack of all Trades'
master of everything |
How and when did you
get started in the fashion business?
At university I wasn't a very serious student. I held a part-time job in a clothing
boutique. At that time, I had a bit of English ability - about the level I have now - and
my bossman just gave me a lot of cash and an address in London and told me to go buy
anything I liked. I found I really liked clothing and I had a good eye for it. As soon as
I left university I knew I wanted to work in fashion and I wanted to be the president of
my own company. If you're the president of your own company, I thought, you don't need
permission to follow your instincts. While I still had the flexibility to think like that,
I started Jack of all Trades in 1986.
Your company name must raise a lot of eyebrows.
Well, when you make a company, you need a name, and I've always liked the letter
"J." If you think about it, a lot of famous names in fashion, like Jean Paul
Gaultier, John Galliano and the London stores Joseph and Jones all start with
"J." Also, I like James Dean. Something about the letter "J" seems
successful to me. When I was a student, I really focused on English, and something my
teacher once wrote on the chalkboard - Jack of all trades - caught my attention. When I
looked it up in the dictionary I found the rest of the line, of course, but that didn't
bother me. My friends told me the name was too long - but look at Comme des Garcons - and
that the meaning was too negative. I just told all my English-speaking friends that I aim
to change the dictionary. Someday it will read: "Jack of all trades, master of
everything."
What do you specialize in and who are your clients?
We focus on both quality and trend-setting fashions. The price range is large, some very
reasonable, some relatively pricy items. Rather than the price, the overall image and the
people I deal with are most important. Our clients include Barney's New York in Shinjuku,
United Arrows in Harajuku, and American Rag. We also have our own shoe shops, such as
Corniche in Aoyama and Agent Orange in Shibuya.
What's it like working here?
Very relaxed, free, and everybody smiles a lot. I think I'm successful, personally,
because I'm outgoing (and I have to thank my mom too). Regardless of whether we here at
Jack of all Trades have big name brands or quality items, we still need to deal with
people on a long-term basis, and nobody likes to deal with people who are uptight or bad.
I don't like to play boss, either, and we don't like superior attitudes around here, so
that makes things a little more cheerful.
Are you hiring right now?
We now have 22 employees, all Japanese except for one American. At the moment, we're not
aggressively looking for employees, but if you're simply the best at something - I don't
care if you have outstanding calculating skills or are a formula one racing car champion
or are the most beautiful man or woman in Tokyo - then I will probably hire you. In the
near future we are going to expand operations and focus on exporting Japanese designs
abroad; at that time we will need more people.
What are the colors for fall and winter?
Lavender, going into deeper purples.
Jack of all Trades is at Barbizon 3, Sendagaya 2-9-6, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0051, tel
03-3470-0990, fax 03-3470-0992. You can email Masaki, masaki-kato@joat.co.jp, but Masaki himself admits
to hardly reading the stuff. If you're eager to connect, he says, don't send a boring
resume, but find him in person and knock his designer socks off.
Do you
have a postion to fill? Email editor@tokyoclassified.com
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